Reviews

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

aeglaeca's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I was never quite sure about what was happening in this book. It has a very fever dream/allegorical quality to it. It pulled me in eventually, and I enjoyed it overall, but I definitely don't feel like I fully understood everything, although I think that might be the point.

swimmeg01's review against another edition

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medium-paced

5.0

loveitall's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

shiver's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

_amaca's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

ryn_k's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

ezravarley's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It became predictable pretty quickly, and the ending was lacklustre. There were some beautiful tidbits throughout and some paragraphs that really hit you in the chest, but overall I feel like it wasn’t quite there. The protagonists milk obsession was fun and weird and I liked that she was always at the same bar. I couldn’t bring myself to sympathise with her, though, nor any of the other characters. A great concept that fell a little flat for me!

kyandesu's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

fashionclown's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

the overall structure and plot of this book just didn’t work for me and i didn’t really feel any connection to the characters, but the ideas/stories around the beasts were interesting enough

hallebee2's review against another edition

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3.0

You can be a born actor, but that means everyone’s watching you perform, and they laugh at you when you display emotion. If you can see all the way into the depths of truth but you just play the fool, that’s ridiculous. And if you’re completely unaware, even funnier.

A very weird and disconcerting book. (3.5/5)